Abu Dhabi: Contador and Mollema crash, call sprint teams out for dangerous riding
Riders say sprint teams were playing cat and mouse like it was a 'six-man breakaway’
The sprint stages of the Abu Dhabi Tour weren’t meant to be of much consequence to the Trek-Segafredo team, who are instead waiting patiently for the GC showdown on stage 3, but Alberto Contador and his teammates found themselves in full train formation in the closing phases of the opening stage.
They weren’t winding it up at the head of the race, but frantically trying to rejoin the peloton from behind after both of their leaders here, Contador and Bauke Mollema, hit the deck in a crash with five kilometres remaining.
Contador jumped on Julien Bernard’s bike and the whole squad busted a gut to get back in the frame, only for another crash to disrupt their progress with around one kilometre remaining.
All riders were eventually given the same time, and neither Contador nor Mollema appeared to have been seriously hurt.
"With a bit of luck there are no consequences," Contador told Cyclingnews at the team bus. "All good – just my throat," he added, referring to the minor respiratory problems riders are prone to picking up in heavily air-conditioned hotels.
Watch highlights of the stage above and to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel, click here.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist, and former deputy editor of Cyclingnews, who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.